Anna Marks - an avid sports fan who is the editor of Bensalem High School’s newspaper, The Parliament – is once again picking the winners! SuburbanOneSports.com welcomes submissions by aspiring student writers.
What a Quarterfinal Round it was!
Filled with overtime thrillers, upsets, and packed crowds across the district, fans were in for a treat. In the race for the District 1 crown, #1 Plymouth Whitemarsh had its second straight demolition derby with their 65-42 win over #8 Garnet Valley, #5 Souderton beat #13 Cheltenham 61-48, and #3 Coatesville narrowly beat a foul-heavy #6 Abington team, 69-64 in OT. PW faces off with Souderton in the 6A semifinal while Cheltenham and Abington fall to the playback round to battle for fifth place.
On the 5A side, #4 Upper Dublin ran #1 Holy Ghost Prep out of its own arena, beating them 66-45. UD plays #2 Penncrest for the 5A Championship at West Chester University on Thursday.
The playback round was wild; #17 Central Bucks East and #24 Pennsbury went to a double overtime war when Pennsbury rose victorious 56-52. Pennsbury has the chance to be the lowest District 1 seed to qualify for states since Springfield Delco ran through the District 1 bracket and got 8th Place in 2024. #4 Central Bucks South beat #21 Neshaminy in a 63-58 nailbiter, and #14 Chester squandered #22 Council Rock South’s Cinderella story with a 57-50 win. In 5A, #5 Upper Moreland clinched a berth to states with a 57-32 win over #8 Harriton.
This round, I’m picking a game of the round: #4 Central Bucks South vs. #24 Pennsbury. While a controversial selection for the top game, especially considering it has no impact on the district championship, this game is not only the only elimination game in this round’s predictions, but it should be a super tightly matched game between two teams who have something to prove on both sides of the spectrum. See more below. Let’s get into it:
Game of the Round - 6A Playbacks:
#4 Central Bucks South vs. #24 Pennsbury: Two teams who fought hard to get out of first round of playbacks, now face each other for a chance to go to states or to see their season end. Despite the large range between these two teams seeding-wise, they are very closely matched, which made it hard to break down these two. Here’s what I found: Pennsbury went back and forth with CB East but one thing that made their offense thrive was their ability to move the ball and get an open three as their quick ball movement sped up and collapsed the Patriot defense. Plus, their high efficiency from deep and interior pressure by their star guard, Pat Jajua, made them able to hit crucial shots when it mattered down the stretch. A big negative I saw in Pennsbury was their defense. They were vulnerable to a ton of general and back door cuts, making their movement to the ball delayed, resulting in a plethora of fouls and buckets for CB East. Upon watching CB South, I still see what I feel has harmed them all season long, their vulnerability to a fast pace. They went fast against Cheltenham and Neshaminy early, but they eventually slowed down in both when the two turned the heat up in the latter quarters (i.e. making more shots, adding pressure). Positively, Titans center, Kayode Adebayo has been a force down low all year for them and could be powerful against a weak Falcon interior. All in all, this is the story of two squads with something to prove; the Titans want to prove they aren’t this year’s choke job, and the Falcons seek to not be some short-lived Cinderella story. Sadly, for the Titans, I see them coming up short. I got Pennsbury in a tight one. 57-55 Pennsbury
6A Semifinal:
#1 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. #5 Souderton: Souderton surprised me last week. I didn’t think they would be able to cool down a scorching hot Cheltenham team, but their high scoring abilities enabled their victory. Despite their fast scoring, the Colonials have truly been on a roll. They rolled over Garnet Valley without their star guard, Mani Sajid, truly emphasizing their depth as a team. Their pace has been just about unstoppable this postseason and unfortunately for Souderton, they’ll just be another victim. 68-53 PW
5A Final:
#2 Penncrest vs. #4 Upper Dublin: As I mentioned above, Upper Dublin had a huge upset win, knocking Holy Ghost Prep into the playback round. The win pushes Upper Dublin once again to the 5A title game for the 3rd time in 3 years. Led by Kobe Bazemore, the UD offense has been very powerful, especially in the paint. I see Upper Dublin’s success continuing against Penncrest with another district title in Upper Dublin’s arms. 65-59 UD
6A Playbacks (continued):
#8 Garnet Valley vs. #13 Cheltenham: Both teams have been very successful this postseason with Cheltenham upsetting #4 CB South twice (once in the SOL Tournament), clinching the state tournament bid, and making the SOL Championship game. Garnet Valley has been just as successful as they have too made their Central League Championship game and have clinched a spot in the state tournament. Garnet Valley brings a hard zone, defensive front to the table that can make a traditional driving team like Cheltenham unable to score and push the pace as they have done throughout the postseason. I got GV. 64-54 GV
#6 Abington vs. #7 Spring-Ford: Both teams had very strong performances in their quarterfinal games. Abington faced off with #3 Coatesville and nationally ranked sophomore Colton Hiller, giving them everything they had (and 33 fouls), narrowly falling to the Red Raiders in OT, after two 20-point performances by Xander Grasty (27) and Faison Garland (21). Thirty miles northeast of Abington and Coatesville was Spring-Ford and their game at #2 Methacton where the Rams couldn’t catch up to the firepower of the Warrior offense and slipped narrowly through the cracks, losing 54-49. With two lethal offenses, it’s hard to choose between these two bye teams, but there is one thing that is making me lean more toward the Ghosts, that being that four out of their 5fovestarters fouled out before the final buzzer and they still only lost to Coatesville by five points. I’m taking the Ghosts. 59-51 Abington
5A Playbacks:
#5 Upper Moreland vs. #7 Pottstown: The fight for fifth place in District 1 runs through Upper Moreland and Pottstown. Upper Moreland beat Harriton in last Saturday’s playback matchup and with their speed and experience against strong teams, I see fifth place in the Golden Bears’ future. 60-52 UM
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